Pablos Pioneers
5 October 2010 Fancy a night out in Wellington with some of New Zealand’s well known artists? Every year the city’s Pablos Art Studio holds its fundraising art auction. This year’s event is the fifteenth, and will feature works donated by Pablos artists and well known Kiwi artists like Dick Frizzell, Nigel Brown, Di Conway and Seraphine Pick.
Held at the waterfront’s iconic Shed 11, for $20 a ticket it’s a bargain. Live music, nibbles and refreshments are provided, as well as the chance to buy high quality art.
Pablos provides a studio and gallery where people with experience of mental illness are supported to transform their lives. Gaelen Macdonald is the studio director. “Our aim is to build confidence through individual artistic development. We acknowledge career, personal and social needs and encourage a sense of value for our artists within the broader community.”
Pablos has moved five times since it was established in 1993. Back then it had a shop attached to it where artists volunteered, selling their work.
Roaring success
In 2002 ROAR! Gallery opened as New Zealand’s first gallery to promote Outsider Art, and replaced the shop. The deliberate move to have a professional, curated gallery has been a roaring success; not only does it give the artists professional status but it has opened doors to new opportunities, experiences and audiences.
Pablos and ROAR! are situated together in one of Wellington’s core creative areas.
ROAR! Gallery exhibits a mixture of artwork from both Pablos Art Studios and the wider external art community.
Gaelen, who has a Master of Fine Arts, recognises the need for inclusion not only amongst artists, but for audiences. “Our artists make work that’s accessible. It’s not contrived to appeal to any particular audience, so I think our audiences can identify with that. They don’t feel cut off or feel they don’t understand it.”
As an interface, ROAR! supports artists who have limited access to traditional dealer galleries, providing assistance in finding audiences, promotion, and handling communications and sales with art dealers and curators.
Pablos encourages people to re-engage with the wider community, to feel empowered and gain confidence.
“Reconnecting with the community is part of the recovery process. It’s about getting people back into the world – participating and taking responsibility. It gives people a reason to get out of bed in the morning; it’s an incentive to keep going and create goals to look forward to.”
Says one artist: “There are few advantages in suffering a mental illness but one of them is definitely being an artist at Pablos.”
This year’s art auction is on October 14.